acquired February 20, 1962 download large image (4 MB, JPEG, 4544x2957) Fifty years ago, on February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. He also was one of the first humans to study the planet from space. Just 5 minutes and 44 seconds after launch, Glenn...

In December 2016, shifting winds pushed smoke from a bushfire on the south coast of Western Australia into the shape of the letter Z. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of the zigzagging smoke plume on t...

This detailed astronaut photograph illustrates the southern coastline of the Hawaiian island Oahu, including Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941—68 years ago—a surprise attack by the Japanese Navy on Pearl Harbor and other targets on the island of Oahu precipitated the entry of the Unit...

A thick plume of smoke billowed over the Western Australia coast and the Great Australian Bight on December 8, 2016. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite passed overhead the same day and captured this natural-color image. Red outlines indica...

It’s not unusual for low clouds and haze to blanket northern India, just south of the Himalayas. You can see evidence of this in a gallery of satellite images we have accumulated over the years. But on December 7, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA...

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A plume of volcanic ash hangs over the Gulf of Alaska in this natural-color image. The plume is not the product of an active volcano; it is re-suspended ash from the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory . High winds previously stirred up ash in the a...

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A bushfire on the south coast of Western Australia sent forth a Z-shaped smoke plume as it burned thousands of hectares on December 7, 2016. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image the same day. References an...

Every northern fall and winter, cooling ocean and air temperatures cause the floating cap of Arctic sea ice to grow from its annual minimum extent toward a maximum between February and April. So far in 2016, though, the Arctic Ocean and neighboring seas have been slow to freeze, setti...